Jane Perrone's organic gardening blog

August 02, 2006

Can you identify this mystery vegetable?

Turnip?

Nope.

White radish?I don't think so.

Kohl rabi.

Now you're stretching it.

I won't keep you in suspense any longer. It's a beetroot. A white one, yes. They also come in yellow and red and white stripes as well as the customary deep red. This variety goes by the stunningly original name White and comes from the Real Seed Catalogue. I haven't tasted it yet as the first lot are destined for an unusually pale beetroot and feta soup, but I'll let you know whether it tastes any different. According to Ben and Kate of the RSC, the leaves are good as greens, too.

Ideal, I'd say, for feeding to tiny people who you want to stuff with healthy pureed veg but don't want the resulting stained bibs and nappies. See also the carrot White Kuttiger.

For several years now I have been growing Albino Improved white beets, and I like them a lot. They are an heirloom variety, originally from Holland. They can been used as a sugar beet and are sweet. They don't taste much different from red beets, but lack the staining red color, which is nice.

I grew the chioggia red/white stripped beets one year. They look a little like a peppermint with their rings. I didn't like them very much. They lose their color when cooked, didn't taste very good, and could really only be used as a garnish.

I'm always amazed a the variety of colors in beets and swiss chard plants, and I always love growing them.

I hope you come back and report on how you like the white beets! For the first 3 years of beet-growing, I grew a golden variety called "Yellow Intermediate Mangel." They were deliciously rich and sweet.

I couldn't find the seeds this year locally, and was too lazy to mail-order them from the company, so I ended up with "Detroit Red" instead. They are good (I think I love all beets) but I am definitely going to make the effort to mail-order the others next year.